[Integrated instrumental diagnosis in salivary gland pathology]

The role of instrumental practice, especially using pictures, in the diagnosis of salivary gland conditions has been examined. A number of remarks arise out of the evaluation of possibilities and limitations of the various techniques. In general, the aid these offer when clinical medicine alone fails to achieve accurate diagnosis; then need to proceed from the simpler, more innocuous techniques to other more complex, invasive ones only when the limitations of the former prevent a complete classification of the features of the lesion. Used rationally, integrated instrumental diagnosis represents an extra tool available to the clinician.